BHOPAL: Police in Bhind, Madhya Pradesh, have opened an investigation into alleged smuggling of marijuana (ganja) via the Amazon network. Police have summoned local executives of the e-commerce giant.
Police say a whopping 1 tonne marijuana, worth over Rs 1 crore, has been transported this way under the guise of ‘curry leaf ’ or ‘stevia leaf ’ shipments.
An Amazon India spokesperson told TOI that they will cooperate with the probe. “This issue was notified to us and we are investigating it. We assure full cooperation and support required to the investigating authorities and law enforcement agencies to resolve the issue at the earliest,” the spokesman said. Amazon said in a statement that it doesn’t allow listing and sale of products banned in India and is investigating if there was ‘non-compliance’ by a seller. SP Singh told TOI: “We are trying to get to the roots of this business.”
Two suspects — Suraj alias Kallu Pawaiyya and Bijendra Singh — were arrested near a dhaba on Bhind-Gwalior highway on Saturday, and 20kg marijuana that they were allegedly transporting via the ecommerce network was seized. Singh runs the dhaba.
Kallu used to smuggle marijuana, tagged as ‘curry leaves’, from Andhra Pradesh and deliver it via e-commerce in Bhopal, Gwalior, Kota and Agra, say police. The marijuana was allegedly smuggled through a ‘seller company’ registered in Vishakhapatnam. The cyber cell had been keeping a watch on Kallu and a team was set up under SP Manoj Kumar Singh and ASP Kamlesh Kumar, which moved in for the arrest on Saturday night.
